Multiview ERP Client: Crosspoint Human Services

New CFO Meets Old ERP

Michelle Glines joined the Crosspoint team in 2014, starting out in payroll and moving up to Chief Financial Officer a few years later. Her staff of five is responsible for accounting, billing, and IT. The newly minted CFO inherited an archaic accounting system that at first she thought was a bad joke. “We couldn’t even use a mouse with that system! We had to use function and arrow keys to navigate,” she recalls.

There were huge gaps in functionality, as well. For instance, the finance system didn’t integrate with the electronic health records (EHRs), which was a significant problem. And generating reports was a nightmare. “You basically had to be a programmer to create a report in there,” says Glines. “I have one IT person for 130 staff. She doesn’t have time to be programming reports for me. I needed something easier to use.”

Glines was also shocked by the amount of paper still being processed through the accounting department. There were entire rooms full of past accounts payable invoices, including every power bill they had paid for the past 25 years. Handling and filing all of that paper was a drain on her department’s resources. Determined to go as paperless as possible, she discovered that their old system could not scan attachments.

Desperately wanting something better, Glines came up against entrenched processes and resistance to change. Finally, the system got so old that the developer stopped IT support. This was the last straw. It would mean weeks of time spent by Crosspoint staff whenever they had an issue or the tax code or payroll laws changed. The executive director relented and okayed the purchase of a new system. Glines and her lone IT person began researching other options.

A Not-So-Techy Team

Ease of use was critical. Although Crosspoint’s staff, many of whom had been there for decades, were a dedicated bunch, they were not necessarily tech-savvy. Glines felt it would be near impossible to get them on board for a system that made things harder than they needed to be.

And yet, many of the big-name, legacy ERP’s they evaluated involved multi-step, complicated processes. Take invoicing, for example. “It seemed like I would have to go to five different areas just to input an invoice, input the voucher, and get the voucher ready to print. I was like, ‘Why can’t I just do it all in one place?’”

They decided to go with Multiview because it was user friendly, but also because it could handle what they needed it to do. Multiview allowed for an extra layer of granularity, so they could track transactions by type of insurance company, separate out social security clients, etc. Glines liked the capacity for extra detail at this level.

Multiview also allowed for the scanning of the invoices right with the entry, which meant they could get rid of most of the paper and save staff time. Reporting was easy, the system integrated EHRs, and the level of customer support was impressive.

Change for the Better

How has switching to Multiview changed things? According to Glines, “Multiview has made a huge difference, just in our day-to-day. It now takes five people to do what used to take seven.” (They lost two to attrition, but can still fulfill all their duties). Without all of the paper to deal with, accounts payable takes half the time it used to.

Then there’s the enhanced insight. “I know everything that’s in the system,” says Glines, “every dollar that goes into it, every invoice that goes into it. I absolutely understand where it’s going when it goes in the system, because I can see exactly where it goes.” 

Generating reports is now the work of minutes and doesn’t take a degree in IT. “I can do it in five minutes, usually less. Now when I pull information for the Board and the Executive Director, I know everything is accurate,” she says.

Glines also appreciates Multiview’s customer support. “Multiview’s helpdesk is amazing!” she says. With the old system, Crosspoint often had to pay steep fees to get IT support, buy a companion product, or wait for weeks for a response. “I have never had that happen with Multiview. Every time I ask the support desk, can we do this or that, they are on it like that! It’s never been more than a couple of hours for them to get back to me.”

“Oh, yes,” she adds, “we can use a mouse now.”